Smooth Like Strait should lead the chase in loaded Maker's Mark Mile

LEXINGTON, Ky. – It’s like a Breeders’ Cup race in April. Most every top turf miler in North America is among a ridiculously deep field of 11 set to clash Friday at Keeneland in the Maker’s Mark Mile, a $600,000 race with a lineup to more than justify its Grade 1 ranking.

Keeneland is where the Breeders’ Cup will be run the first weekend of November, and the Maker’s Mark Mile scarcely could provide a better preview toward the $2 million Mile. Smooth Like Strait, beaten just a half-length when second last fall in the BC Mile at Del Mar, surely will be favored when making his 5-year-old debut in the Maker’s Mark.

“He’s been fantastic,” said Michael McCarthy, who trains the homebred Smooth Like Strait for the Cannon Thoroughbreds of Michael and Jennifer Cannon. “We’d love to make some amends for some of the tough beats he’s taken. A couple of different results last year where if he’d gotten his head down on the wire at the right time, maybe he’d have been worthy of an Eclipse Award.”

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Smooth Like Strait, with Umberto Rispoli riding, will break from post 6 in the 34th Maker’s Mark, which anchors an outstanding Friday card as the ninth of 10 races. Fresh from a layoff of more than five months, the son of Midnight Lute undoubtedly will be flaunting his natural speed, daring the other 10 to come catch him.

“We’ll go on and utilize that speed as a weapon,” McCarthy said early this week from his Southern California base. “He’s done very well in his training out here, and we’re eager to get him started on what hopefully is another big year.”

Smooth Like Strait has seven wins and seven seconds from 19 starts while earning triple-digit Beyer Speed Figures in each of his last six races. A big Beyer most likely will be required for victory Friday, given the capabilities of the opposition, including Count Again, Set Piece, and potent duos from the barns of Paulo Lobo, Chad Brown, and Mike Maker.

Count Again (post 7, Joel Rosario) comes off a riveting score in the Grade 1 Kilroe Mile at Santa Anita, where the 7-year-old gelding flew home late when earning a 103 Beyer. His California-based trainer, Phil D’Amato, has won 22 graded stakes in 2021-22, the majority of those on grass.

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Set Piece (post 9, Florent Geroux) came to prominence on this circuit last year, sweeping three straight turf stakes, with two-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Brad Cox having hit the reset button after the Juddmonte Farms homebred finished off the board in the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile in September.

“I really like the way he’s come back,” Cox said. “He’s trained lights-out coming into this. I really think he’s going to fire Friday.”

Lobo steps in with In Love (post 1, Alex Achard) and Ivar (post 5, Joe Talamo), both of them Grade 1 winners over the local course. In Love won the Keeneland Turf Mile here last fall, a little more than a year after Ivar won the same race when it was known as the Shadwell Mile.

“We’ve been pointing both of them to this race all winter,” said Lobo, based at the nearby Thoroughbred Training Center. “They’re ready.”

Brown, who won this race for the first time last year with Raging Bull, is represented by a second Juddmonte starter, Masen (post 4, Flavien Prat), as well as Public Sector (post 11, Irad Ortiz Jr.). Masen is the wild card of the group as he makes his stateside debut, while Public Sector faces older rivals for the first time after winning three graded stakes in New York last year versus 3-year-olds.

Maker will saddle Atone (post 3, Tyler Gaffalione), who adds blinkers after finishing a creditable fourth in the Pegasus World Cup Turf in his latest, and Somelikeithotbrown (post 8, Jose Ortiz), a standout New York-bred millionaire who, along with perhaps Masen, figures to be in closest pursuit of Smooth Like Strait for much of the trip.

Rounding out this remarkable cast are Shirl’s Speight (post 2, Luis Saez), a resurgent 5-year-old exiting back-to-back wins at Tampa Bay Downs, and Mira Mission (post 10, Julien Leparoux), a last-out winner of the Grade 3 Canadian Turf at Gulfstream Park with a 100 Beyer.

First post Friday is 1 p.m. Eastern, with the Maker’s Mark, which was known as the Maker’s 46 Mile from 2010-19, going at 5:16. It’s the final leg in the $3-minimum Turf Pick 3, which also includes a $110,000 allowance (race 5) and the $200,000 Limestone (race 7). All listed purses include substantial bonuses restricted to registered Kentucky-breds.

Cloudy skies and a high of 70 are in the Friday forecast. There’s likely to be plenty of give to the turf, given how intermittent rain and unseasonably cool temperatures have been the recent norm.